


Winds of Change

by PopiaSimp



Category: Ghost (Sweden Band)
Genre: Air Ghoul comes out to you, Other, This may be the first fic that references Chair tbh, gender neutral reader, nonbinary reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-23 00:26:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30047097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PopiaSimp/pseuds/PopiaSimp
Summary: Air's got a secret that he doesn't know how to hide anymore, and you end up being the one he confides in. Luckily... you can relate to his problem.
Relationships: Air Ghoul/Reader, Chair | Air Ghoul/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Personal headcanons are plentiful in this lil bitch. Air Ghouls are pretty as fuck and Air and Chair are the same person, they just came out and changed their name. Also I might? continue this eventually but for now it's just a oneshot. energy is low nowadays.

Your job as the ‘Ghoul wrangler’, as Terzo called you, had been to keep an eye on the mental status of all the Ghouls. You’d been doing it since around the middle of Secondo’s time in the band, so you knew most of the Ghouls pretty well. You also knew a lot of their tells to when they were upset, and currently, while the rest of the Ghouls had filed out of the practice room to go find something to eat, whether that be food or… the alternative… Air was left behind. He’s usually first out the door to go do whatever he wants, usually sitting in high places and watching the clouds roll through the sky. To see him moving so slowly was strange.

He was taking his time carefully moving his keyboards back to their rightful place along the wall of instruments, and once he had, he let out a deep sigh, thinking he was alone. He pulled at his uniform a bit, muttering “This thing only makes me feel _worse._ ” as he pulls his mask off.

“We can always get it altered to fit you better.” you call from the other side of the room, and the Air Ghoul about jumps out of his skin. He turns, fingers tightly gripping the mask in his hands as the spell from it dissipates. You’d seen him before, under the mask, but each time was just as stunning.

A lot of Air Ghouls replicated the daytime sky, light blue skin with gently floating cloud-like spots. But the more powerful they got, the more they took on the look of the night sky. Air was a _very, very_ powerful Ghoul. His skin was such a deep, rich blue that you almost swore it was pitch black. Dotted along his features were twinkling, brightly shining ‘stars’, though you’d never seen just how many he truly had. They were spread across his cheeks like freckles, at the very least, though the most striking thing about him was the ice blue of his eyes, almost like they were two tiny moons… he ran a hand up through his light gray hair to keep it out of his sight, and that was when you managed to break your gaze on him. You had to try _very_ hard not to stare at him every time you saw him in his true form…

“I… thought I was alone…” he admits softly, shaking his head. “It’s… It’s not that it doesn’t fit properly… I just don’t… I don’t know.”

You move closer, though you’re still a fair distance away from him. He doesn’t move, just… staring _towards_ you, but not _at_ you… lost in thought. You gently tap your pen on the edge of your clipboard, having been taking a few notes during practice, so you don’t startle him again as you speak.

“You know you can tell me anything, Air. I won’t say a word to anyone else unless it’s absolutely necessary.” You keep your voice low, even though the room is rather thoroughly soundproofed… no one would hear this conversation but the two of you unless they opened the doors.

He groans softly, still clutching his mask as he moves to sit on one of the couches along the walls. Whatever’s bothering him has him pretty lost, it seems… you’re starting to worry about it being a serious issue, but… you don’t want to think about just how bad it could be. Not yet.

You sit on the other end of the couch, still trying to give him his space as he tries to work out his words. He glances over to you and sighs _heavily,_ running his thumbs over his mask.

“Do you… Do you feel _right,_ in your body…?” he asks, and you think he’s going to follow that with more, his mouth open for a few moments… but nothing comes out. Just as he closes his mouth and looks back to the floor, you clear your throat.

“Honestly, Air? Not all the time. Sometimes I like the way that I look, the way that I am… but other times I just want something… _different._ ” you start, and you catch him glance up at you out of the corner of his eye almost _immediately,_ but they flick back to the floor after a second or two. “I mean.. I’m _okay_ existing like this, but it’s not ideal, yknow? It’s not what I would have picked if I had the chance to pick what I could have been.”

The room falls silent again, and you can almost hear the gears turning in the Ghoul’s head as he thinks. He opens and closes his mouth a few times, a strained groan leaving him after a few minutes. He rubs at his face with one hand and finally turns to look at you again, shifting on the couch to face you more fully. You mimic him, keeping your eyes locked to him.

“I know… I know Terzo’s… nonbinary, shit, even Omega and Beta are too… but there’s something different about… thinking about _them_ being something, and _you_ being something…” he sighs out. 

You pause for a second, and then let out a hum, asking “Air, do you want me to try using a different set of pronouns for you? Omega, Beta and Terzo all use they/them.. Beta and Omega still use he/him as well. I can just read out what I wrote down during practice, but use different pronouns, if you want.”

There’s another short silence, but eventually Air nods, and you pull your clipboard up out of your lap to read your notes. But first, you scribble out every instance of the word _he,_ and reconfigure some of your sentence structure, then get comfortable in your spot.

“I took each song to take a look at one of you, usually starting with Terzo since they start off strong and finish a bit weak… you usually have a really solid output, so I usually finish off with you, but today I put you at third.” you explain, and you see Air thinking about what the third song they’d played today was…

“Monstrance Clock. Air has been putting a lot of themself into practice today. They usually save their best for solos and keep the rest at an eight out of ten, but today, everything has been a ten. And their time to shine during Monstrance Clock was _incredible._ I could feel the energy they were putting into the music the entire time, even as I was trying to pay attention to the others. They put their heart and soul into practice today, and it-”

 _FUCK._ You forgot how personal you’d gotten in Air’s note… You fumble around with the clipboard to try and play off like the rest of the note was on another page for a moment, knowing that now was _**not** _ the time to admit you’d had a crush on Air… after a second, you just sigh and chuckle out “There’s a… personal comment in there, um.. Do you mind if I skip it…?”

The Ghoul is honestly so entranced in your words that there’s no response, for a second. All you end up getting is a delayed nod, and you thank Lucifer that you can just skip through that part…

“A lot of things about Air always catch me off guard. I expected them to be a still, sturdy player, but they enjoy the music as they play, dancing around and looking so happy, and sure of themself… it seems like that’s the only time they ever truly feel as happy as they always claim to be. Thinking of something other than themself puts them at such ease that they can put their all into their music, and it amazes me every time I see it.” You look up from your clipboard and suck in a bit of a breath, and are met with the sight of the Air Ghoul fighting back tears.

It takes a moment, but the silence is broken with a cracking laugh of “Okay, f-first off, _ow._ You p-pulled out the therapist at the end there…” Dark, star speckled hands come up to scrub away any tears before they have the chance to fall, and the Ghoul adds “I… I didn’t expect that to feel a-as good as it d-did… I.. I don’t _mind_ b-being called… he and him, but…”

“But they/them scratched an itch you didn’t know you had?” you ask, and get a nod as a response. “Then it’s settled, huh? We can work on all of this together, and I’m sure Beta, Omega and Terzo would help you with whatever you needed to get more comfortable with yourself if I couldn’t help.”

They sit and think over their words for a second, eventually getting out “Do I have to keep my name? I know it’s.. Already considered a gender neutral name, but.. I like when I go to meet one of the Siblings and they have a funky name like Frog or something… it’s charming…”

You stifle a laugh and say “You can name yourself whatever you wanted. Could even rhyme it with Air, if you wanted to keep some part of your old identity… call you Chair or something.”

While it had been a joke to you, they honestly sat there, considering their options before they shrug and chuckle out “Honestly, I like the sound of that… Chair. Name myself after furniture.. Imagine the pick up lines I could use!”

The two of you share a hell of a laugh at that idea, especially when they choke out _‘Hey baby, you need a seat? Chair’s got you, come climb into my lap.’_ Eventually, you two both stand up and get back to what you were doing beforehand. _Chair_ finishes up settling their keyboards in their spot, grabbing their mask before they head towards the door, where you’re leaned up against the wall, scribbling at things with your pen. They lean over a bit to see what you’re writing, and you glance up just as you finish writing ‘ _Chair - they/he’_ on the list of names and pronouns you have taped to the back of your clipboard.

It takes them a second to read upside-down, but then they let out an odd sound and mumble “I _just_ stopped crying… c’mere.” 

Before you can realize what’s happening, the rather large Air Ghoul is pulling you into a tight hug, and you wrap your arms around them to give them a squeeze with some strength they weren’t expecting. In retaliation, they snort and lift you off the ground, shaking you back and forth a little bit.. Just enough to make your feet swing before they set you down. 

“Thank you…” they sigh softly, moving to pull the door open and hold it so you can leave. You grin up at them and give a soft “You’re welcome, Chair.” before you take your leave. You two end up waving at each other the whole way down the opposite ends of the hallway until you round a corner, and as soon as you’re out of sight, you bury your face into your clipboard, sighing out every anxiety riddled thought you’d had in the process.

Maybe next time you see them, you can tell them how you feel… you’ve only been holding it in for three years… what was another few days?


	2. Your Mark on Chair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You'd been helping out Chair with a lot, but the ritual that was needed to change a Ghoul's name often had some side effects. It's only right that you keep an eye on them, to make sure nothing bad happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was kinda rushed, but at least it's cute!!  
> CW for blood and knife/cutting mentions!

Another day, another meeting you attended with Chair, getting everything that needed to be changed in paperwork sorted through. You were sat currently with Terzo, Nihil, Imperator and a few various Ghouls aside from Chair. One was at their side, pointing to different spots in the paperwork splayed out before them and mumbling things along the way.

“Sign here.”   
“Old name here. New name there.”   
“Initial here.”   
“Full signature here. Yes I know you only have one name. Just put Ghoul.”

You just exchanged glances with the two Popes before you, and kind of tried to avoid Imperator’s glare, but currently she seemed a bit… calmer than usual. You had just stolen a glimpse of her as she looked up to the two Ghouls and said “Do not forget the most important part.”

At that, the smaller Ghoul gathered up the paperwork and set it aside, looking to Nihil as he pulled a scroll from somewhere in his robes. He handed it across the table, watching the smaller Ghoul have to jump up to grab it before they spread it out on the table and pulled something out of their own pocket.

A quiet  _ shink _ broke the silence as the Ghoul flicked the switchblade open, pointing it at Chair, who just sat there and stared at it. The blade glinted in the candlelight as the smaller Ghoul said “Repeat after me and then write your name in blood. This is the important part.”

Chair swallowed thickly and nodded, mirroring the Ghoul as they raised their hand. 

“In the name of the unholy spirit, I, Chair, confirm that I am not changing my identity to hide within the church from crimes outside the church that would raise or lower my position within, that I am not trying to fuck around and find out what happens if I lie to Lucifer, and instead confirm that this change is for my own well-being and that I am not mocking our Dark Lord.” the smaller Ghoul says, and you peek out from around Chair to see what the fuck that was about.

You get your answer from Nihil, who sighs out “Before we implemented those rules, we had several… incidents, one of which nearly tore this abbey to the ground. Just repeat it so we can burn that scroll and be done with this, si?”

Chair nods, and repeats it word for word, the flames of the candles flickering as they speak. The smaller Ghoul holds the blade out and watches as Chair slices their finger open. The Air Ghoul drags the wound across the scroll to sign their name, and once they lifted their finger, an intricate pentacle flashes along the parchment, their name in the center. It glows a bright red, and is singed into the paper once it fades. With a bit of instruction, the larger Ghoul rolls the scroll back up and holds it over the closest candle.

For a moment, the room goes  _ dark, _ the only light being that of the scroll, instantly catching fire and burning rapidly,  _ violently _ in Chair’s grasp. They let go before it reaches their skin, and once the flame dies out, the room lights up again, all the candles burning brighter than before, but  _ especially _ the one that just burned the scroll. You feel a familiar presence, one that you’d felt during some of the more powerful sermons and rituals… 

Nihil breaks the silence yet again, coughing softly before he says “You. Ghoul handler, whatever they call you nowadays… you need to keep an eye on them through the night. While this may not have been a full ritual, it still counts as one, and they may have… side effects.”

You just nod and watch as Terzo, Imperator and Nihil stand, taking that as your signal to as well. Chair pushes themself up after a moment, trying to keep from getting blood on anything. You all share a bow and take your leave, you and your favorite Air Ghoul wandering through the halls as they try to keep from getting blood everywhere. They ended up going to stick their finger in their mouth and you make an awkward sound, waving your hands at them. 

“Don’t do that! That’s the  _ worst  _ thing you can do.” you say, and grab their hand, wrapping yours around their finger and squeezing it. “Come on, there’s a little first aid room down here. I’ll get you fixed up.”

“Alright, alright… I just didn’t want to get anything anywhere…” they sigh, and you pull them by the finger down the hall to a little door marked  _ Booboo room _ . You pause to tilt your head at it, as does Chair, but you pull them inside and grab a paper towel with your free hand, wrapping it around their cut finger and pointing to one of the chairs. 

“Sit down and don’t put anything in your mouth.” you joke, and watch as they plop down onto it. You quickly wash your hands and throw on a pair of gloves before finding what you needed; a betadine wipe, some antibiotic ointment and… you can’t decide between a bandaid or gauze, so you grab both of them and lay them out on the counter. You’ll know once you see how big the issue is.

You turn around and pull the paper towel off of their finger, looking over the wound. “Dude, I don’t think you needed to cut your finger this much to write your name in blood.” you mumble, and they shrug a bit, sighing out “That little knife was  _ sharp, _ I couldn’t help it…”

Both of you are silent as you clean their finger up, opting to wrap it in gauze due to how long the cut was. Once they’re all patched up, they sit there for a moment and look over your work, making a dumb little face up at you. You furrow your eyebrows, and they hold their finger out again, voice softening as they whine “You didn’t kiss it better.”

For a second, you question how the hell you got here. A member of a Satanic church, promoted to ‘Ghoul wrangler’ by the Pope of said church, having been tasked with babysitting a nonbinary Air elemental  _ demon from Hell _ , who just asked you to kiss their wound better after you just finished wrapping it up from the ritual that changed their name in the presence of Lucifer… all that leaves you is a snort as you grab their wrist and pull their hand up to plant a kiss onto the gauze. 

You turned around to dispose of everything just as the nebula-like markings under Chair’s star-freckles lit up light blue, the Ghoul blushing at the fact that you had actually kissed their finger. By the time you turn back around, they’re standing up, having gotten up in the hopes of getting the blood out of their face. You glance at the clock on the wall and see that you had spent literally all day dealing with that paperwork.

Chair looks up to the clock as well, eyebrows raising as they say “Oh, shit. It’s almost time for tonight’s mass. Do you… How strict do you think Nihil’s orders to keep an eye on me are?”

With a shrug, you reply “I don’t want to find out. If you’re going, I’m going. Cmon.” You’re honestly not sure who’s leading who as you make your way down to the chapel. You find yourself mushed between Chair and Beta, although Beta’s leaning more towards Omega, and you unknowingly end up leaning more towards Chair as the sermon goes on. 

At some point, they lay their arm up on the back of the pew, glancing down at you occasionally but looking back up to Secondo as he spoke. You weren’t sure why, but they  _ still _ didn’t want you to see them blushing… sure, you two had gotten closer in your time helping them get through their social and legal transition, the weeks that passed had only proven that you were rather good at hiding your own feelings, but… they weren’t. 

Once mass was finished and the quick-to-leave people had run the fuck out of the chapel, you and Chair pulled each other up out of the pew, both of you rubbing at your eyes. The room was basically all empty now, just a few people sitting around to talk about what had been said… as you two headed towards an exit, Chair asks “Just how far are you willing to stick to Nihil’s orders?”

Your thoughts are cut off by a yawn before you can get them out, but you look up at Chair as you stretch and groan out “Chair, I’m gonna be honest, I’m gonna pull up one of your cousins and watch you sleep. I don’t want to fuck around with whatever ‘side effects’ could mean… if you start to turn into an actual chair I want to be able to stop it before we have to mark you as an antique.”

The  _ laugh _ that that draws from the Ghoul is one that they have to stifle by smacking their hands over their mouth, snickering into them as they wander down the halls to their dorm. They lead you into the room that’s now marked with a shitty looking drawing of a wooden chair and let out a yawn of their own, stating “Make yourself comfortable wherever, I’m gonna get ready for bed.. If you do end up wanting to sleep you can borrow one of my shirts or something and use the couch, or.. Yknow. Big enough bed that you could lay in it with me..”

You don’t reply to that, too busy trying to  _ breathe _ at the idea of being in the same bed as the Air Ghoul, and thankfully, they don’t comment any further, going into the bathroom to change and get ready for bed. You settle down onto the little couch across the room from the bed and start just… scrolling through your phone, figuring you’d do that all night to keep yourself awake while trying to keep an eye on the Air Ghoul.

They finally come back out of the bathroom, and you glance up from your phone to see them in a pair of sleeping pants and a white shirt that’s… apparently  _ very _ thin. You look back down to your phone, yawning softly and watching out of your peripheral as they climb into bed. Once they’re settled, they flick off the main light and go to turn off the lamp as well before they ask “You sure you don’t wanna come over here? You look exhausted..”

“I’m fine, man. I pull all nighters all the time. You get some rest and worry about yourself.” you reply, and they simply shrug and turn the lamp beside their bed off as well, rolling onto their side away from you to get comfy. You look up again and see that their markings actually give off a bit of light, shining through the fabric of their shirt… you can almost get an idea of how their skin looks through the shirt, but… you don’t want to get on that topic right now…

A few hours pass, the Ghoul snoring softly as they sleep. You keep an eye on them, every movement happening under your watchful gaze. Eventually, though, they flop onto their back and fall silent, still for far longer than they had been before… you put your phone down to watch them carefully, and after what had to be three minutes of silence, they start to make quiet… panicked sounds?

You stand up and move as quietly as you can over to get a better look at their face, which is twisted and scared looking.. They whimper a bit and kick their legs, and you reach a hand out to shake them awake. As soon as it makes contact with their shoulder, they jolt awake, sitting up and panting  _ heavily _ as they look around. 

After a moment to collect yourself from just getting jumpscared to hell and back, you click on the lamp beside their bed and murmur “Hey, hey, you’re alright…” They look up at you, pale blue eyes wide and full of fear as they suck in a deep breath and run their hands through their hair, gripping the base of their horns tightly for a second.

The room falls silent until they groan and sigh “Nightmares… always nightmares after  _ any _ kind of ritual… i-it’s nothing new, but…” they trail off, and you put your hand on their shoulder, internally grimacing as you realize their shirt is soaked in sweat and clinging to their skin.

_ This _ nightmare had involved you… it had confirmed for them that they had a hell of a connection to you, one that they didn’t want to lose, and… they didn’t want to think about it anymore… Chair shifts and pulls the soaked fabric off of themself, throwing it in the direction of their dirty laundry basket and sending a current of air around themself to dry themself off… at least they didn’t stink.

You’re still silent, although you’re mostly avoiding looking at them to keep from staring at the star markings shining along their skin, and how bright they were currently… they catch your attention with a soft clearing of their throat, and you look down again, head tilted.

“I… Is it too out of line to ask you to lay down with me for my own comfort, after that, or…?” they ask softly, and you let out a quiet “Aw…” It honestly touched you that you could possibly comfort them.. You’re just glad you had dressed comfortably today. You kicked off your shoes and crawled over them into bed, watching them lay down and look up at you expectantly. You hesitate and eventually decide to just… lay your head on their chest, snuggling up to their side. You feel their arm wrap around your back, and you shove yours underneath you up under the pillows to be comfortable. 

All’s quiet for a moment, and eventually, you drape your other arm over their torso, hand resting by your face as you start to idly play connect the dots with their markings, surprised to see that… actual  _ lines _ formed on their skin as you did. They would light up, a soft blue color, and fade over time, leaving nothing in their place but the empty space that had been there before. The only thing you can think to say in response is a dumbfounded whisper of “That’s so fucking cool.”

They look down at you with an eyebrow cocked before they realize what you’d discovered, a low laugh sounding before they breathe “Yeah.. if I wanted to, I could make them stay, but for the most part, they just fade away…”

Chair’s other arm comes up under their head as they watch you doodle on their skin, but you don’t even realize they’re watching as you connect some smaller stars into a little heart and grin at it, nuzzling your head into their chest. It takes a moment, but they ask “Now what’s that about?”

Well.. you’re caught, and you can only blush for a moment. You look up at them, cheeks tinted pink as you mumble “Well… you had some that lined up like that… and… m-maybe I was looking for a heart shape to make because… I like you…”

For what feels like forever, it’s dead silent. You’re looking through Chair’s eyes, and Chair is looking through yours, but  _ finally, _ they grin, and chuckle softly before looking back up to the ceiling, murmuring “I… uh… I like you too..”

You look down once they’d looked away, biting your lip at their words… and after a moment, they pull their hand down from under their head, placing their hand over the little constellation you’d made.. It had started to fade away because of how long it had been there.

When they lifted their hand, however, it was just as bright as it had been when you’d first drawn it out, and you look up just as they look down… they just made that a  _ permanent _ marking on their skin… it's all you can think about as you slowly start to drift off to sleep.

At least now, you could say that they always had your heart.


End file.
